New squad for Skokie « chicagoareafire.com

New squad for Skokie

Pierce Dash CF PUC for Skokie Squad 17 so 31285

Pierce composite

Tags: new fire truck for Skokie, new squad for Skokie, Pierce Flickr site, Skokie Fire Department

This entry was posted on February 17, 2018, 3:30 PM and is filed under Fire Department News, Fire Truck photos, New Delivery. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

10 Comments

#1 by Phil Stenholm on February 19, 2018 - 8:57 AM

BILL: In the 1970’s the only four-man (minimum) Skokie F. D. company was Squad-Engine 214 (Squad-Engine 3). The 4th man from the Squad-Engine might have been transferred to ALS Rescue-Truck 205 (Rescue-Truck 2) when it was placed in service in 1980, but I’m not sure. Rescue-Truck 205 might have initially been a three-man company.

The Skokie F. D. would have needed at least a 28-firefighter minimum to operate more than one four-man company at that time, and they only had a 27-man minimum. However, back then an additional firefighter was assigned to each Skokie fire station to provide coverage in case of vacations or sick leave, and if no firefighters were absent a 4th man would have been assigned to the truck company at that station for that shift, but it wasn’t a guaranteed four-man truck company staffing.

Just as an additional aside, Advance Ambulance (a private ambulance company that had served the north side of Chicago and the north Chicago suburbs for many years, mainly transferring patients from one hospital to another) built a three-bay “ambulance station” on the Evanston-Skokie border at Dempster & McDaniel around 1980 and then lobbied both the City of Evanston and the Village of Skokie with a proposal to provide what was called “9-1-1 ambulance service” to both towns.

The proposal set forth was that the Evanston and Skokie fire departments would each take their two front-line ambulances out of service and the paramedics and equipment from the ambulances (including ALS equipment from the unmanned third ambulances each of the F. D. maintained) would be used to staff four-man “ALS companies” (Engine 21, Engine 22, and Engine 25 in Evanston, and Engine 201, Rescue-Truck 205, and Squad-Engine 214 in Skokie), and Advance Ambulance would transport the patient to the hospital and assume all of the administrative costs associated with patient transport, including billing. Advance Ambulance also guaranteed that if necessary they would be able to transfer additional ambulances to the Evanston-Skokie station if the three dedicated Evanston-Skokie “9-1-1 ambulances” were unavailable.

The model provided that one paramedic from the responding ALS company would ride with the patient in the Advance Ambulance to the hospital, while the ALS company would go back in service with a three-man crew until the 4th man could either be picked-up at the hospital or taken back to fire station by the ambulance. And if the patient did not require paramedic attendance to the hospital (in other words, if it was a “BLS” call), the ALS company could go back in service with its full crew & equipment and Advance Ambulance would handle the transport to the hospital.

The proposal (as presented) would have added a 4th man to Skokie F. D. Truck 209 (Truck 3) and Snorkel-Truck 218 (Snorkel-Truck 1) and would have added either a 4th man to Evanston Truck 21 or a dedicated driver to unmanned EFD Squad 21. Truck 21 would also have been relieved of having to staff the third EFD ambulance when it was needed.

But there was blanket resistance from both fire departments because there was a concern that the Advance Ambulance proposal (if implemented) would eventually result in shift staffing-cuts, and there was also political resistance to the idea of a private ambulance company providing emergency ambulance service for profit.
#2 by Bill Post on February 19, 2018 - 3:58 AM

Phil the my previous post about higher manpower compliments in Skokie can be misunderstood. I am saying that before Ambulance 17 was put in service in September 2003 Skokie had 4 men assigned to Squad 18 and Rescue Truck 2 and so the 4th man was taken off of those 2 companies in order to put Ambulance 17 in service because of the rigid minimum manning that was in effect in the Village of Skokie.

In the second paragraph in the last sentence is where you can get confused because I am Not saying that Skokie had 4 man Engine and Trucks right before Rescue Truck 2 was put in service. I am asking you when did the Skokie fire department go from 4 man Engines and Trucks to 3 man Engine and Trucks as I believe that at least into the 1960s or perhaps the 70’s Skokie did ( at one time) run with 4 man Engines and Trucks and ran with a 5 man Squad, So when did was the manpower reduced and was it done all at once by the Village or was it gradual process?.
#3 by Bill Post on February 18, 2018 - 7:42 PM

Phil Stenholm that was a good point you brought out about Skokie having a 27-man minimum that the village was commited to. It was in fact rigid in 2003 when Ambulance 17 was put in service with the opening of the new Station 17. I understand that the ambulance crew was obtained by taking the 4th man from Squad 18 and Rescue Truck 17. Until then both were 4-man companies while the rest had three.

While we’re on the subject, before Rescue Truck 2 was created as an ALS engine in 1980, would you know if Truck 2 was a 4-man truck? I was wondering where Skokie got their 4th man for Rescue Truck 2?
Would you know when Skokie reduced manning from 4-man companies and a 5-man squad to 3-man companies and a 4-man squad? Skokie had the higher manning from at least the 1980s until September 2003 when Ambulance 17 was put in service. Was that reduction done all at once?
#4 by cs on February 18, 2018 - 3:16 PM

The front bumper says rescue
#5 by Bob on February 18, 2018 - 2:14 PM

Is it going to be Squad or Rescue 17
#6 by Phil Stenholm on February 18, 2018 - 1:54 PM

When Skokie placed Rescue Truck 2 in service at their Station #2 in 1980, it was in response to not getting a manpower increase needed to place a third ambulance in service at Station #2. They had enough paramedics for a third ambulance, but were limited by a rigid 27-man shift minimum such that they could not place a third ambulance in service without taking Squad-Engine 3 or one of the trucks out of service.

So Skokie replaced their Truck 2 (a 1962 Pirsch 85-ft MMA) with a specially-designed ALS-equipped and paramedic-staffed rig that could function as an attack pumper and/or as a city service ladder truck at a fire or as an ALS first-responder to EMS calls in Station #2’s district. It’s radio signature was “205” when it first was placed into service, the same signature as the former Truck 2.

Because there were no tall buildings on the east side of the village, the Skokie F. D. believed they really did not need an aerial-ladder truck at Station #2, just one with an array of ground-based ladders and truck equipment that allowed the company to perform basic truck work at a fire, with the option to request Snorkel-Truck 1 or Truck 3 to respond if necessary.

So the Skokie F. D. did a nice job thinking “outside the box” to fill a very specific need. As far as I can recall it was the first paramedic-staffed and ALS-equipped rig in MABAS Division 3 that wasn’t an ambulance, a pre-cursor to the ALS engine companies of today.
#7 by Marty Coyne on February 17, 2018 - 9:18 PM

Is this going to be a full fledged squad now like 18?
#8 by Crabbymilton on February 17, 2018 - 8:56 PM

Those DASH CF’s really look sharp.
#9 by Bill Post on February 17, 2018 - 7:47 PM

Thanks for for putting the photo on line. I have been expecting to hear about the new rescue for quite a while as Skokie has had it on order and it was supposed to be delivered shortly.
Rescue 17 has not been referred to as a squad. Squad 18 is really classified as the squad in Skokie. Technically speaking both Squad 18 and Rescue 17 are pumper/squads however Squad 18 carries more equipment. Rescue 17 has some extrication and truck equipment however it has more of a history. Originally it replaced Skokie Truck 2 in 1980 with a 750 gallon-per-minute Ford/Eone paramedic or ALS pumper. It was then called Rescue Truck 2.
Truck 2 was Skokie’s original truck company and it was initially Truck 1. Shortly after Station 3 was opened at 9024 Gross Point Road in 1960, a new Truck 2 was put in service with Engine 3 and Squad 1.
In 1969 Skokie opened Station 1 at 7424 N Niles Center Road and put a 65-foot Snorkel in service as Snorkel/Truck 3.
At the time the companies were numbered in order of when they were put in service and not according to station numbers. They also had a totally different radio call system where the apparatus was dispatched using three digit codes which began with the number 2.
Sometime in the mid 1970s the companies were renumbered to reflect the stations they were assigned to. That’s when Truck 1 at 8340 Hamlin was renumbered Truck 2 and Truck 2 at 9024 Gross Point became Truck 3 while Snorkel/Truck 3 at 7424 Niles Center Rd became Truck 1.
Between 1969 and 1980 Skokie had three truck companies in service, two with aerial ladders and the Snorkel. It is very rare that a fire department will have an even ratio of trucks to engines. In 1980 Skokie chose to keep Trucks 1 and 3 in service dividing the town with a north side truck (Truck 3) and a south side truck (Truck 1). Stations 1 and 3 also had paramedic ambulances with districts matching the trucks. The new Rescue Truck 2 on the east side became an ALS engine. It also carried a few longer ground ladders to make up for the loss of Truck 2.
In April of 1989 the three Skokie stations were renumbered 16, 17, and 18 as part of a unified numbering system in MABAS division 3 so that fire companies operating with mutual aid wouldn’t have duplicate numbers.

On September 14, 2003 Skokie opened a new Station 17 at 8157 Central Park and closed the station at 8340 Hamlin. A third ambulance was put in service at Station 17. Rescue Truck 17 lost it’s ALS status was then referred to as Rescue 17. It serves as a second engine company in Station 17’s district, responds as a RIT company to fires in Skokie, and to extrication runs on the east side however Squad 18 will usually be dispatched as well.
#10 by Hunter on February 17, 2018 - 6:43 PM

Nice squad. Can’t wait to see squad 17 added to the site